Regarding your editorial about unaccompanied children from Central America illegally crossing our borders, what's wrong with them stopping and settling in Mexico? ( "Death by deportation," Aug. 24). Central and South Americans (and there are lots of them) are passing through Mexico anyway to get up here and they already speak Spanish in Mexico, so why don't they remain there instead continuing on to the U.S.? Mexico is a big country and not completely crime-ridden by any means.

Regarding your editorial about unaccompanied children from Central America illegally crossing our borders, what's wrong with them stopping and settling in Mexico? ( "Death by deportation," Aug. 24). Central and South Americans (and there are lots of them) are passing through Mexico anyway to get up here and they already speak Spanish in Mexico, so why don't they remain there instead continuing on to the U.S.? Mexico is a big country and not completely crime-ridden by any means.

Death, taxes, Wal-Mart. There's no getting around the giant retailer, is there? Oh, you can choose not to shop there - unlike many small towns across the country, Baltimore has other retail options. But it's still hard to avoid Wal-Mart, especially now that a federal judge has struck down the Maryland law that would have compelled the company to contribute more to its employees' health care costs. Fewer than half of Wal-Mart's employees are covered by their company's health insurance.

It sure is a big country.That's what the mother of Oklahoma State's 7-foot, 292-pound center, Bryant Reeves (a.k.a. "Big Country") found out yesterday.Carolyn Reeves jetted for the first time to see her son play his first-round game against Drexel at the Baltimore Arena. The trip from her home, Gans, Okla., a town with a population of 300 on the Oklahoma-Arkansas border, was not too traumatic."It was great," said Mrs. Reeves, who traveled with her husband, Carl."We were going to go to the tournament, wherever it was, because it's his senior year," Mr. Reeves said.

ABC and CBS newsmagazines are the cream of the crop among tonight's prime-time offerings (unless you're a baseball fan and wish to join your fellow Baltimoreans in wishing the worst on the hated Yankees)."Me and My Hormones" (4 p.m.-5 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- Melissa Gilbert makes her directorial debut with this "Afterschool Special" about a family undergoing some changes: Sis is having her first period, mom is undergoing menopause and grandma is moving into a retirement home. Cute, if not exactly insightful; then again, its aim is simply to give y'all something to talk about.

Bryant Reeves might get the last laugh on Byron Houston.Three seasons ago, Houston was the star at Oklahoma State and Reeves was a rookie, albeit a very large man on campus. Houston, who now plays for the Seattle SuperSonics, took a look at a soft 7-footer with a flattop, learned he was from the metropolis of Gans and a legend was born: Big Country.Give him a normal half against Drexel tonight, and Reeves will pass Houston and become Oklahoma State's all-time leading scorer in the NCAA tournament.

Of course they'll be shooting the moon Saturday when the NCAA tournament semifinals get under way in Seattle. But the thing is the lads from Oklahoma State wouldn't have it any other way.They have been underdogs for a while now, to the top two seeds in the East Region, Wake Forest and Massachusetts, and were only pick 'em against Alabama (5). Didn't matter, the Cowboys just kept grinding it out, holding four opponents to an average of 55 points while scoring about 70 themselves.UMass was restricted to 54 against O-State in an "Elite Eight" matchup Sunday when, usually, the slash and -- Minutemen have that many points by halftime.

Randy Rutherford shrugged and smiled when asked how it felt to be discovered by a nation.For three prolific seasons, Rutherford has been known primarily by his heartland rivals in the Big Eight Conference. These days, Oklahoma State's senior sharp-shooting guard is relishing his coming-out party in the glare of network television.The celebration occurred at the Byrne Meadowlands Arena, where Rutherford hung 23 points and 11 rebounds on top-seeded Wake Forest in an East Regional semifinal victory.

By David Zurawik and David Zurawik,Television Critic | August 27, 1993

l "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr." is a classier, bigger, hipper version of "The Wild, Wild West."It's got the same violence and sexism of old-time westerns. But, though set in California in 1893, it's got a 1993 sensibility and nifty edge.The new Fox show has enough references to popular culture to rival "The Simpsons" and make it one of the brighter lights of the new season.Tonight's two-hour premiere, which airs at 8 on WBFF (Channel 45), opens with a big nod to the Indiana Jones movies, as a group of miners finds an orb with wonderful and terrible powers.

Some people are content to look at the world from the top of Mount McKinley or the bottom of the sea. Others find satisfaction traversing the Appalachian Trail or exploring Death Valley.Robert Sullivan's passion is the New Jersey Meadowlands, a barren and reedy, wind-swept marshland, home to mosquitoes so large they have been called New Jersey's state bird. It is celebrated as the imagined resting place of the vanished union boss Jimmy Hoffa and for the ripe aromas of the Secaucus pig farms of bygone days.

Mrs. Bowler, my mother, always gives good advice.When Theodore J. Kaczynski, the Unabomber, was arrested a few miles northwest of our hometown, Helena, Mont., and the Montana Freemen holed up against the FBI for 81 days near Jordan, Mont., Edeen Bowler did not panic."You'll be all right," she said in dead earnestness, "if you stay on the interstate."Two related incidents make a coincidence. The third event of last week, however, makes me wonder if something is in the water, or maybe in the air.Incredibly, Russell Eugene Weston Jr., the suspect in last week's Capitol shooting rampage, has lived part-time for some years in Rimini, even closer to Helena than Kaczynski's cabin.

"The Horse Whisperer," which Robert Redford has adapted from the best-selling novel by Nicholas Evans, recalls a common description of war and parenthood: interminable boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror.Clocking in at a posterior-numbing three hours, "The Horse Whisperer" is a long, slow travelogue of gorgeous natural and human scenery punctuated by deeply troubling scenes involving a tormented horse. That's entertainment?Granted, it only looks like torment: The production notes take pains to assure us the American Humane Association was on hand during all the animal scenes, so we can at least rest assured that in real life, these beautiful beasts were treated just fine.

ABC and CBS newsmagazines are the cream of the crop among tonight's prime-time offerings (unless you're a baseball fan and wish to join your fellow Baltimoreans in wishing the worst on the hated Yankees)."Me and My Hormones" (4 p.m.-5 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- Melissa Gilbert makes her directorial debut with this "Afterschool Special" about a family undergoing some changes: Sis is having her first period, mom is undergoing menopause and grandma is moving into a retirement home. Cute, if not exactly insightful; then again, its aim is simply to give y'all something to talk about.

London -- AND NOW, from remote Africa, more bad news. In Zaire, there is an outbreak of Ebola, a killer virus without an antidote. But our world is wracked with disasters: Must we care about this one?One reason why we must is that Zaire is a very big country -- about one-third the size of the United States. Another reason is that Zaire borders on other big countries. Its rivers flow into many neighboring lands. Though World Health Organization spokesmen say transmission of the virus has been greatly reduced, if not completely halted, it will be difficult to isolate Zaire or its epidemics.

In Hartford recently, an unidentified man walked into a barbershop just as University of Connecticut basketball star Rebecca Lobo was leaving. Assured that it was, indeed, the Huskies' center, he scooped a few of her shorn locks into a paper bag and walked out.What manner of madness was this?The March variety.Ms. Lobo and her team were on their way to the women's college basketball championship in Minneapolis this weekend. The men's Final Four is being played, too, at the Kingdome in Seattle.

In Hartford recently, an unidentified man walked into a barbershop just as University of Connecticut basketball star Rebecca Lobo was leaving. Assured that it was, indeed, the Huskies' center, he scooped a few of her shorn locks into a paper bag and walked out.What manner of madness was this?The March variety.Ms. Lobo and her team were on their way to the women's college basketball championship in Minneapolis this weekend. The men's Final Four is being played, too, at the Kingdome in Seattle.

Death, taxes, Wal-Mart. There's no getting around the giant retailer, is there? Oh, you can choose not to shop there - unlike many small towns across the country, Baltimore has other retail options. But it's still hard to avoid Wal-Mart, especially now that a federal judge has struck down the Maryland law that would have compelled the company to contribute more to its employees' health care costs. Fewer than half of Wal-Mart's employees are covered by their company's health insurance.

Randy Rutherford shrugged and smiled when asked how it felt to be discovered by a nation.For three prolific seasons, Rutherford has been known primarily by his heartland rivals in the Big Eight Conference. These days, Oklahoma State's senior sharp-shooting guard is relishing his coming-out party in the glare of network television.The celebration occurred at the Byrne Meadowlands Arena, where Rutherford hung 23 points and 11 rebounds on top-seeded Wake Forest in an East Regional semifinal victory.

Of course they'll be shooting the moon Saturday when the NCAA tournament semifinals get under way in Seattle. But the thing is the lads from Oklahoma State wouldn't have it any other way.They have been underdogs for a while now, to the top two seeds in the East Region, Wake Forest and Massachusetts, and were only pick 'em against Alabama (5). Didn't matter, the Cowboys just kept grinding it out, holding four opponents to an average of 55 points while scoring about 70 themselves.UMass was restricted to 54 against O-State in an "Elite Eight" matchup Sunday when, usually, the slash and -- Minutemen have that many points by halftime.